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Bill Skowron
|deathdate= |debutdate=April 13 |debutyear=1954 |debutteam=New York Yankees |finaldate=October 1 |finalyear=1967 |finalteam=California Angels |stat1label=AVG |stat1value=.282 |stat2label=HR |stat2value=211 |stat3label=RBI |stat3value=888 |teams= *New York Yankees (1954-1962) *Los Angeles Dodgers (1963) *Washington Senators (1964) *Chicago White Sox (1964-1967) *California Angels (1967) |highlights= *5-time AL All-Star (1957, 1958, 1959-61) }} William Joseph "Moose" Skowron Jr. (December 18, 1930 – April 27, 2012) was an American Major League Baseball player, primarily a first baseman. He was formerly a Community Relations Representative for the White Sox. Skowron was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is of Polish descent. His father was a garbage collector. His friends called him "Mussolini" as a joke, after his grandfather gave him a haircut which looked like the dictator's, but his family shortened the nickname to "Moose." The name stuck throughout his career. "Moose" attended Weber High School on the intersection of Division and Ashland in Chicago. He went to Purdue University on an American football scholarship, but found himself better suited to baseball when he hit .500 as a sophomore, a record in the Big Ten Conference that lasted ten years. Signed by the New York Yankees in 1950 as an amateur free agent, he played his first game for the Yankees on April 13, 1954. He wore uniform number 53 in the 1954 season, but switched to #14 in 1955 and stayed with that number for the rest of his years with the Yankees. In the beginning, he was platooned at first base with Joe Collins, but from 1958 on he became the Yankees' full-time first baseman. He played in five All-Star Games as a Yankee: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, and 1961. On November 26, 1962 he was traded by the Yankees to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Stan Williams. He kept his Yankee uniform number, 14, on the Dodgers. Although Skowron floundered against National League pitching, batting just .203 in 237 at bats with four home runs, he stunned his former team in the 1963 World Series. Playing against his old Yankee teammates, Skowron led the Dodgers with a .385 average and a home run, as Los Angeles swept New York in four straight games. On December 6, 1963 he returned to the American League when was purchased from the Dodgers by the Washington Senators (currently the Texas Rangers). The Senators gave him uniform number three. On July 13, 1964 he was traded by the Senators to the Chicago White Sox. He took uniform number five on the Sox at first, but with the 1965 season went back to his old uniform number on the Yankees and Dodgers, 14. In 1965 he once more got to play in the All-Star Game. On May 6, 1967 he was traded by the White Sox to the California Angels. He kept his uniform number 14 on the Angels. He was released by the Angels on October 9, 1967. He played in a total of 1478 games, all but 15 as a first baseman. (He was in 13 games as a third baseman and two as a second baseman.) Skowron made the last out of the 1957 World Series, but the following year knocked in the winning run in game six of the '58 World Series. Skowron also hit a 3-run home run in game seven to propel the Yankees to a World Series win, and a comeback from a 3-1 series deficit. On June 12, 1980 he was inducted into the National Polish-American Hall of Fame, while living in Schaumburg, Illinois. In 1999, he became a community relations representative for the Chicago White Sox and was still holding this position when he died in 2012. Skowron died on April 27, 2012 at the age of 81, in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He died of congestive heart failure after a long battle with lung cancer. See also * Top 500 home run hitters of all time * Los Angeles Dodgers all-time roster * Chicago White Sox all-time roster External links * *Baseball Almanac *Baseball Digest *Baseball Library Category:Major league players from Illinois Category:American League All-Stars Category:California Angels players Category:Chicago White Sox players Category:Los Angeles Dodgers players Category:New York Yankees players Category:Washington Senators (1961-1971) players Category:Major league first basemen Category:1930 births Category:2012 deaths